Fishing Chug Bugs In The Ditches

As I've stated many times in the past, topwater fishing with Chug Bugs in the ditches is a blast when conditions are right.

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I decided to take Elmo and Odie out to the "swamp" for scouting trip.

We packed up several rods along with the dogs and headed to to local bait shop to pick up some fresh shrimp for Karen to use for bait.  I wound up buying a new bait bucket along with a dozen medium size shrimp

The owner of the bait shop said the reds and sea trout were hitting all week around the islands at the Peacocks Pocket boat launch, as well as the shallow water flats around the small islands at the entrance to Banana Creek.

 

Peacocks Pocket and entrance to Banana Creek

I thanked him for the information and we headed to Peacocks Pocket road to check out the bite.

Odie was going nuts, so we entered the first entrance at Gator Creek and slowly meandered around the road watching for signs of fish.

Although I didn't spot any topwater activity, Karen wanted to stop along the first stretch of road to dunk her shrimp.  I found a deep water stretch along the marsh canal and pulled over to the side of the road so we could fish.

Karen was fishing a Cajun Thunder float with a large shrimp just off the bottom and I decided to fish the canal with a newly opened Chug Bug smeared up with some Pro-Cure offshore saltwater formula.

The weather conditions were conducive to top water fishing.  It was an overcast day with a slight breeze over the water, the air temperature was in the low to mid 80s, and it looked like it was going to rain.

I didn't want to interfere with Karen's fishing so I walked down the marsh canal "ditch" looking for fish.  It didn't take long before I spotted something busting on small bait along the bushy bank.

I started casting a Shad pattern Chug Bug along the bank and almost immediately picked up a slot size sea trout.  The fish swatted the plug and got hooked in the back.  I took a pic of the fish and quickly released it into the ditch to grow into a gator trout. (We weren't trying to catch dinner today!)

After making several casts with no follow ups I moved down the ditch to another area where something was chasing baitfish.

A well placed cast to the far bank hooked me up with a two foot long ladyfish that jumped all over the canal before finally giving up the battle.

On two occasions it headed for some brush at the bank but I managed to steer the fish away from the stickups.

I put the ladyfish on ice in the cooler to use for cut bait later in the day and continued fishing the Chug Bug.

 

I moved a few yards down the canal and started pitching the Chug Bug to another commotion on the surface.  I took three or four catches to pick up another sea trout a little bigger than the last fish.

I took another pic, released the fish and continued fishing along the banks of the ditch.

I had three or four misses on the Chug Bug before landing and releasing another smaller sea trout and decided to back track and fish the other direction.

Karen asked me to set out another rod to fish a shrimp on the bottom, so I took a break and rigged one of my rods with a 4/0 hook and some fluorocarbon leader.  All the time I was fishing to topwater bait, she didn't get a single bite.

I walked past where she had parked herself and started fishing the other direction.  I was walking and casting and about 20 yards from where she was fishing, another ladyfish nailed the Chug Bug and danced all over the place before being landed.

I took another pic of the fish and let this one go.  I figured one large ladyfish was enough bait for today.

   

 I continued fishing and picked up two more sea trout on the lure before the bite dropped off entirely. 

All the fish were in the slot and all were released to grow up into gator trout after their pictures were taken for posterity.

The front was moving in and it was beginning to sprinkle.  Karen had not gotten a single bite all the time we were fishing, but she said she still enjoyed being out in the fresh air with Odie and Elmo.

We packed up our gear and decided to head for home about 6:30 pm.  As we slowly drove to the and of Peacocks Pocket Road, we spotted three big redfish cruising the marsh canal.  The fish move from spot to spot as evening approaches and usually don't bite.

I still couldn't help trying for a red with a fresh dead shrimp so I drove ahead of one of the fish, quickly parked and tossed the shrimp in front of the redfish.  The fish grabbed the shrimp and pulled off it's head as it continued on it's way up the canal.

I decided that several ladyfish and five sea trout were enough for one day, so we headed home just as the rain started in earnest.

I've been out of town for a couple of weeks and need to get more fishing in.  Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Chug Bugs For Sea Trout

Fishing Chug Bugs for sea trout is one of my favorite pastimes when they are biting and this afternoon for the most part, the sea trout were eager to please.

I haven't been able to get as much fishing in as I normally do but this afternoon I decided to hit Peacocks Pocket road to see if anything was moving around after the rainstorm.

Fishing the fronts is usually productive and this afternoon was no exception.

It was raining when I drove into East Gator Creek Road and it continued on and off until around 6:30 pm.  The air temperature dropped to 71 degrees and there was a mild breeze blowing until dusk.

There were several flocks of Rosette Spoonbills in the marsh and the alligators were pretty much everywhere I stopped to fish.

 

I didn't bother fishing around East Gator Creek because I usually spend too much time on the ladyfish that inhabit the grassy shallows, so I drove to Peacocks Pocket road to fish some of my favorite ponds instead.

There were a lot of fish moving around but they were spooky.  I started fishing a ZMan soft bait and missed a couple of small sea trout so I decided to start fishing a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon to cover more water.

After several dozen unfruitful casts to some very active fish I decided to start fishing topwater baits.  The fish were hitting finger mullet on the surface in several areas so I pulled out a Skitter Walk and started casting around the mullet pods.

I had a couple of follow ups but no hits so I decided to change over to a freshwater Frog pattern Chug Bug.  

I smeared on some Pro-Cure to enhance the bait and started casting to the banks of the marsh canal and other likely looking areas. 

As the water became a lot calmer, the Chug Bug was the trick.  After only a few casts I had a nice hit with a sea trout of about 20 inches.  The fish nailed the topwater bait at the bank and put up a brief fight before I released it.

Things were looking up.

I moved to a large marsh pond where there were some large sea trout and redfish chasing mullet on the surface.

I started blind casting the area and after several casts managed to briefly hook up with another nice sea  trout.

I missed two more sea trout and spooked a nice redfish before I hooked up with this 26 inch fish.

The fish hit the Chug Bug as soon as it hit the water, missed the bait and hit it again.  It hooked itself on the second strike.

After taking a pic I released the fish and moved to another spot.  When I got to the pond, an oriental gentleman already had the spot staked out.  Literally.  He had five rods out with live finger mullet.

When I asked him if he caught anything, he told me he landed and released a 41" redfish and a 28" sea trout both caught on live mullet.

For some reason, I wished him more good luck and moved on to another location.

It was getting closer towards dusk and it started to rain again but the fish also started to bite.  

I hooked and released two more sea trout on the Chug Bug.

The largest fish was 27" and  I missed one that was well over that size as I was leaving the refuge to head for home.

That fish hit the Chug Bug in the marsh canal right at the bank.  I thought it was a redfish when it hit and I set the hook so hard it pulled the plug out of it's mouth.

One of these days I'll learn.

Until next time, Tight Lines.